What Is Sight Alignment?

Once you have finally made the decision that you want to become a seasoned hunter, you have to start acquiring the skills. Why skills? Well, let me tell you this fellow hunter, skills are more important than the gun or arrows you already have.

That is the reason I am always stressing on learning the hunting skills before you set off for the bust to kill those hogs or ducks. After all, you need to be a very skillful hunter to make a kill.

What do I mean? Your aim is to hit the target and not to fire warning shots in the bushes. The point here is hitting that deer or hog and not just wounding it but killing it!


That is where sight alignment comes in. Before you can bring down that turkey or duck; you need to understand the most basic things about sight alignment. It is only by understanding and following the rules of traditional marksmanship that you can become a seasoned hunter. Like I said before, you want to hit that duck and ground it in the blink of an eye, don’t you?

Learning sight alignment will spare you the hassle of having to chase wounded rabbits or deer in bushes. And as a seasoned hunter, I want you to get the best training by first of all chasing a few myths away.

Why is Sight Alignment Crucial?

You must have heard of hunters who have never taken any killing home. Well, many of these have fallen victim of instinctive shooting. You will hear them with statements like, “it was the only shot I had” “I couldn’t have done anything else.”

Whichever the statement, the bottom line is that such hunters never make kills. They have simply become victims of instinctive shooting. As a qualified instructor, I will not waste our precious time on such a fallacy.

I will also never admit to a judge that I have ever coached a hunter not to use sights when hunting. Shooting without sight alignment is like driving a vehicle with your eyes closed. Fellow hunter, it is only by using sight alignment that you can precisely hit your targets.

What Do You Need To Know About Sight Alignment?

The Whole Picture

Hunting isn’t just about statistic shooting on the range. There are several details a hunter needs to understand when hunting. You drawing the gun will lead to a stance; the stance will then lead to a proper sight of the picture. From the moment you draw your gun and point it to the target, you are making the decision of a successful or failed hit.

Many hunters are not aware that the stance is the foundation of successful sight alignment. For you to, hit the target successfully:​

• Your position needs to be stable
• Stand with the feet shoulder width apart
• Your feet should be at 45 degrees towards the target. Ensure that you are not flat footed
• Distribute your weight evenly across the body
• Lean into the gun
• Place your arms out thrust on an isosceles stance maintaining one arm straight but slightly bent to support the arm.

After this, put your body in a squared position. Though you can do the both of these, the weaver stance is professionally recommended.

Finally, What Is Sight Alignment?

This isn’t rocket science, but it involves some geometry. Mmmh! You don’t have to get scared of that. The front sight will either be a blade or a post attached to the barrel of the gun. The rear one is an open sight containing two posts or raised bars on both sides.

The radius of the sight is the distance between the rear and the front sight. The point here is, a longer sight radius makes it easier for a hunter like you or me to have a perfect sight picture. On the other hand, a shorter sight radius alignment could exaggerate mistakes when it comes to alignment.


All you have to do is to align the rear notch and the front post between the rear posts with equal amounts of light on both sides of the post. Ensure that the top of each rear leaf and the front sight are equal.

This is a constant which defines whether or not you have your target within the sight. This balance can’t be compromised if at all you need that duck or turkey.​

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So, How Can You Achieve Perfect Sight Alignment?

Well, let me define once more what is sight alignment before we can continue. It is a process of lining the front and rear sights. I have also talked about sight picture, and perhaps many of you don’t know what it is. Basically, it’s the image seen after the sight is correctly aligned.​
Open Sight


If you are using an aperture sight the target is lined up in such a way that its front sight will be within the rear peephole

Telescopic Sight With A Crosshair Reticle

If you have a telescopic sight with which uses a cross hair, all you need is to line up the reticle of with the target, and you will bring it down.

Aperture Sight Line Up

If you are using an aperture sight the target should be lined up in such a way that the sight at the front will be within the back hole

If the sight comes with a dot reticle, let the dot be lined up with the position you need to shoot the target. The dot has to be in the position where the bullet falls.

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Conclusion

With this kind of knowledge, you can now confidently go out hunting and be assured of hitting as many targets as possible. As long as you know what sight alignment is, you can be assured that you will never return home hungry. That goose or duck will have no chances as long as it is you on the trigger.

If you liked this article, keep coming for more advice. We have dedicated our time and resources to make you a good hunter. Until next time, it is goodbye from me. Just keep watch for more content like this